Zulch was born in
Lydenburg,
Transvaal, and attended
Sea Point High School in
Cape Town. An right-handed opening batsman with a wide range of strokes, a strong defence, and unlimited patience, he made his
first-class debut for Transvaal in the 1908–09 season. He scored his first
century in his third match, when he and
Archibald Difford set a new South African first-wicket record with a partnership of 190, Zulch scoring 112
retired hurt. The next season Zulch again set a new South African first-wicket record, when he and
Louis Stricker put on 215 for Transvaal against the touring
MCC team, Zulch making 176
not out. Zulch was one of South Africa's leading batsmen on the
tour of Australia in 1910–11, scoring 354 runs in the five Tests, with two centuries. He scored 150 in the second innings of the Fifth Test after South Africa had
followed on 204 runs behind, but it was not enough to save the match. In the series against
England in 1913–14, Zulch played only three of the five Tests, but still finished second in the South African aggregates, with 239 runs at an average of 39.83. In the Third and Fifth Tests he and
Herbie Taylor made century stands for the first wicket, Zulch scoring 82 and 60 respectively. During the 1920–21 season, at one stage he scored four centuries in five innings, including 185 and 125 in the match against
Orange Free State – the first time anyone had scored two centuries in a match in South African domestic cricket. ==Personal life==